Tag Archives: Backyard

Saturday’s Critters at Home and in the Woods

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Here is Lizzie, the queen of the household, in one of her cat poses. She often crosses her paws when in cat pose and I had never seen one paw pointed up.

Sadie, the rescue terrier and Lizzie.

Kodi and Sadie at the window

I was cleaning out the bird camera the other day and I noticed Kodi the Pom and Sadie wanting in. The bird camera was live so I got these two live on the bird cam. Kodi is good about going outside and “dogging” by himself. Sadie doesn’t dogging by herself, she’ll dog with a human or with another dog. They had had enough dogging and wanted in.

I went on a hike on Turkey Mountain the other day and came across this guy. A Giant Redheaded Centipede according to google images. Kind of a fearsome looking critter and is supposedly venomous. We let him go on its way. It was in its home and we were just visiting.

I found this dragonfly on Turkey Mountain as well. When I was a kid in Utah I was scared to death of these things and I can’t remember why now.

White Tailed Deer on Turkey Mountain

I also found this white tailed deer on Turkey Mountain as well in a small meadow. Very curious. You can see the hindquarters of another deer to the right.

And this squirrel I found while hiking at Ray Harrall Nature Center.

And a one minute twenty second video of the various critters on the bird feeder recently.

After I made the youtube video above, an eastern bluebird paid a visit. Only ten seconds. Playing flickr videos is a little awkward you have to go way below the video to see the play button.

And that is it for this week. I am linking with Saturday’s Critters

Shadow Shot Sunday – Mid April Edition

An early morning (for a retired guy) shot Saturday morning. I love Spring mornings even when it is 42F. They warm up fast. That is our terrier mix adoption dog Sadie off to the left. Today (Sunday, the 19th) is her “Gotcha Day.” We brought her home one year ago today. She is a little sweetie.

A tree with its shadow during a dog walk in our neighborhood greenbelt. I’ve been playing around with the miniaturization feature in my IPhone’s Camera+ app.

A photographers blind with scattered shadows at Ray Harral Nature Center in Broken Arrow.

Something to Crow About

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The other day I was outside with the dogs and I noticed this squirrel frozen in place on a branch.

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I think it was worried about these crows who were on a wire in the green space behind our backyard. I had never thought of crows being a threat to squirrels, but what I read on the interwebs is that they sometimes will attack young squirrels but are hesitant about taking on grown squirrels because apparently grown squirrels will fight back.

I’m linking with Saturday’s Critters.

Saturday’s Critters – Last of January 2026

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It has been very cold here in Tulsa after our snow. Sadie has finally adapted. She loves to go outside and run around in the snow.

It exhausts her though. So she falls asleep in my lap while I’m watching tv at night.

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Snow doesn’t phase our little Pom Kodi at all. We put him on a diet and it seems to be working so now he’s wanting to play fetch with me and Sadie, and he and Sadie chase each other around the house. He’s livened up quite a bit.

Male Northern Cardinal

I’ve been trying to keep the birds fed using suet balls and other high energy foods. This cardinal wasn’t complaining.

Carolina Wren

I think this is a Carolina Wren that came by for a bite.

We get dark eyed juncos both on the feeder and on the ground.

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There is something special about juncos.

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And the opposite for the quiet juncos at the bluejays. Squawk, squawk, they say whenever they visit,.

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A through the window photo.

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And we get lots of doves. This one is all puffed up against the cold.

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We had a bunch of hawks one afternoon. Noisy and boistrous.

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Lots of squirrels.

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That’s it for this week.

I’m linking with Eileen’s Saturday’s Critters. Check it out, lots of great photographers who love all sorts of animals.

Saturday’s Critters – Hike at Ray Harral Nature Center and More!

It has been raining a lot in Tulsa lately. It makes the trails muddy and I don’t want to damage them so I go places with more sustainable trails. Fortunately Ray Harral Nature Center in the Tulsa suburb of Broken Arrow has asphalt paved trails so that is one of my go to’s when I get the yen to go hiking when things are muddy.

I found this male northern cardinal. I brought my good camera and he was nice enough to sit still while I got his photo. I saw glimpses of other birds but didn’t get their photos.

Found this young squirrel playing coy with me.

I used the Merlin App to track who else was around. I got a glimpse of a red-eyed vireo. The Fish Crow called loudly as did the Carolina Wren.

I spotted this painted rock in one of the pollinator gardens at the center. I put it in my pocket and carried it around during my hike and then put it in a different pollinator plot not very far from where I found it. I used to love making painted rocks and hiding them. I am going to get some paint and sealer and try again. I’m not much of an artist and I settled on a yellow sunburst on a blue background. A friend of mine mocked me saying that Walmart was going to sue me for infringing on their logo.

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When I first started I hid them way too well and nobody was finding them. I guess from my geocaching background. So I started putting them in more visible places and that worked out better.

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A bunny wandered into range in my backyard trailcam.

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And a brown thrasher.

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Yesterday we got a reprieve from the rain so son and I mowed the yard. I mowed the front as he caught up on his beauty sleep. I trimmed the front and backyards. My 35 year old cord electric trimmer finally quit a couple weeks ago and I got a nice battery powered model to replace it. Much more powerful and convenient than dragging a cord around all over the place.

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So son mowed the backyard. He likes to be creative in his patterns. Used to drive me crazy cuz of all the mohawks he left but now he is still creative yet no more mohawks. (Mohawks are unmowed strips of grass that look kind of like a Mowhawk haircut.) I think he got tired of mowing the yard twice.

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It got hot, yesterday, here I am all cleaned up doing my zombie walk in the 105F heat. (I don’t think it got to 105 but it was still hot.)

Don’t forget to cheer for the Oklahoma Thunder Sunday evening when they battle the Indiana Pacers in the final game of the NBA Championship!

I am linking with Eileen’s Saturday’s Critters. Check it out. Lots of talented photographers participate.

Shadow Shot Sunday – Shady Cooling

My wife and I had coffee yesterday at place that has this nice outdoor space which always has a breeze. I love the sails that they use for shade. They actually allow some light through. I’ve been thinking about something like that for our back patio which is nice but doesn’t really have much shaded area. Here in Oklahoma with our high winds I think it would be imprudent to do this as a do it yourself project. The wind loads on the sails and supporting post would be considerable. Fortunately I have a friend who is a mechanical engineer and knows how to do those kinds of calculations.

I fired up the drone yesterday to get a few photos of the midday sky. I also pointed the camera straight down to our backyard. You can see our patio with no shade. The orange object in the middle of the yard is the drone landing pad and just to the left of it is me, piloting the aircraft. This is at about 40 meters above ground level.

And I lowered it to about 20 meters and took another photo.

And this is what I was taking photos of while the camera was pointed out. Check out my Skywatch Friday post next week for more.

So, should I see what would it entail to get some shade sails over our back patio?

ShadowShot Sunday

Saturday’s Critters in Tulsa

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I aimed the trailcam at a hidden corner of the backyard and when I pulled the chip a few days later I found this image of a fox!! It is beautiful and very small. That pot is only about 15 inches tall.

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And here is our rescue terrier Sadie leaping at something. When we play fetch with a ball she bounds after the ball leaping in the air as she goes. She’s a fun dog.

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My wife and I found this goose family on a hike.

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I think this is a yellow crowned night heron. I found it at Lafortune Park here in Tulsa. I’ve seen them along this creek before.

Here is Lizzie the cat. I am still recovering from my knee replacement surgery and I am itching to get back to yoga so I thought I would try an online class at home. Lizzie wanted to join in but wanted my mat. Found out that I am not ready for regular yoga quite yet. Fortunately there are challenging chair yoga classes that I can take.

And our sleepy little tiny Pomeranian, Kodi. He doesn’t know that he’s tiny is a problem.

A short 20 second video of a few of the birds from the bird feeder cam in our backyard.

I’m linking with Saturday’s Critters.

Dismal Shadows

The northwst corner of our backyard is looking a little dismal right now at the tail end of winter but I love teh shadow of our north/south fence projected on our east/west fence. And we got a bonus tree shadow from our neighbor and a bird feeder shadow. Just don’t look at the cast about yard furniture, random utility boxes, leaves and other debris.

Shadow Shot Sunday